Saturday, May 16, 2015

On The Racist Suggestion That Cops Killing African Americans Is No Big Deal Because African Americans Are Killing Each Other All The Time Anyway

Libertarian blogger Willis Hart latest racist commentary, this one dealing with the issue of the Police killing African Americans.

Willis Hart: On When Ray Ray Plugged Andre Who Had Just Got Done Offing Mookie... Do not these black lives matter, too? (5/9/2015 AT 9:05pm).

So, Willis is suggesting that because African Americans kill other African Americans regularly (because Black people are extremely violent), cops killing them isn't a big deal? Or African Americans should be protesting violence within their own community and accept that African Americans killed by the police have it coming?

Is it just me or does anyone else find this incredibly racist? I mean, I plugged in some words from one of Mr. Hart's latest commentaries: "a black person is 25 times more likely to attack a white person than the other way around"... (Without the quotes) and what comes up FIRST in the search results? A link to The Daily Stormer, a Neo-Nazi/White nationalist Website! Yikes, right?

So, Willis shares his opinion regarding the violent nature of African Americans with White Supremacists. Although his link is to Discover The Networks, which is a website run by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Although The David Horowitz Freedom Center is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a far-right organization that is (maybe?) slightly less racist than The Daily Stormer.

Chip Berlet, writing for the SPLC: [Horowitz's organization has a habit of] blaming slavery on "black Africans ... abetted by dark-skinned Arabs" and of "attack[ing] minority demands for special treatment" as "only necessary because some blacks can't seem to locate the ladder of opportunity within reach of others", rejecting the idea that they could be the victims of lingering racism". (David Horowitz Freedom Center/Criticism).

Yeah, perhaps the Hartster should have checked out WHO he was quoting before quoting them? So as to avoid the embarrassment of citing a racist and bigoted "freedom center". You know, regardless of the accuracy of the statistics. We get what the message is, which is the same as that of White Nationalist groups represented by websites such as "The Daily Stormer". That message being that "Blacks are prone to violent behavior and this is why they belong in Africa". But Willis does also point out on this blog that "African chieftains traded Black slaves for trinkets".

Anyway, is it a "fact that a black person is 25 times more likely to attack a white person than the other way around"? Willis, citing "Discover The Networks", says it is. He adds that this factoid is "probably a revelation to those of you who strictly get your news from the Huffington Post, MSNBC, liberal talk-radio, Media Matters, etc".

Ah, no, Willis, this is no "revelation" to me. The revelation (even if it is not much of one) is that you'd go to a racist website in order to procure the information you were looking for. In order to enforce the racist message you wanted to send.

The real reason that this stat exists is our history of slavery and continuing racism greatly enhancing poverty in the African American community. Some African Americans, being the victims of poverty enhanced by racism, react (as many people do when in poverty situations) criminally. Many by selling illegal narcotics. Others by engaging in violent criminality. I'm not saying that we need to give criminals a pass if they happen to be Black, but ignoring the root cause of this criminal activity won't fix the problem.

...do black Americans commit more crime? Some criminologists think... black people tend to offend more because they tend to be more disadvantaged, living in poorer urban areas with less access to public services, and so on. ... This study of violent crime in deprived neighborhoods in Cleveland, Ohio, found that reductions in poverty led to reductions in the crime rate in exactly the same way in predominantly black and white areas, suggesting poverty, not race, is the biggest factor. (Channel 4 Factcheck article by Patrick Worrall. 11/27/2014).

Poverty and crime are linked, as are poverty and racism.

In a report to the UN General Assembly, a UN rights expert has emphasized that poverty is closely associated with racism and contributes to the persistence of racist attitudes and practices which in turn generate more poverty. Racial or ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by poverty; and the lack of education, adequate housing and health care transmits poverty from generation to generation... poverty does not result only from an unequal sharing of resources. "Discrimination against groups and persons based on their ethnicity, race, religion or other characteristics or factors has been known to encourage exclusion and impoverish certain groups of the population who suffer from unequal access to basic needs and services". (Poverty and Racism Inextricably Linked Says UN Expert by Kanaga Raja, who is Editor of the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS), from which this article is reproduced. Social Watch, 12/11/2013).

We need to work to decrease racism and poverty (and decreasing racism will decrease poverty). And decreasing racism and poverty will result in a decrease in crime. But does Willis mention any of this in his commentary? Of course not. Because his SOLE objective is to say "Blacks violent". And then, with his commentaries following this one, excuse police killings of Black people... why? Obviously they had it coming due to them (Black people) being so violent.

As for Black people killing other Black people... people who kill other people almost always kill people they live near. Blacks primarily kill Blacks and Whites primarily kill Whites. It's a proximity thing, and not a race thing. And YES, those Black lives matter, but the police are SUPPOSED to "serve and protect" and NOT kill people (unless they have no choice). Obviously the police had the choice to not beat down (or give a rough ride) to Freddie Gray. I've heard nothing about him fighting back or resisting arrest, so how the hell did he sustain injuries that lead to his death?

THAT is why the African American community is protesting, you idiot Willis! Not because the lives of Black individuals killed by Black criminals don't matter, but because the police aren't supposed to be killing people without cause (just because they're Black)!